Oak Ridge Today

Living Light solar-powered home moves to Children’s Museum

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Living Light House Trailer

The University of Tennessee donated the Living Light House to the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge, and the 750-square-foot solar-powered home was moved Saturday.

 

The University of Tennessee in Knoxville has donated its Living Light House to the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge, and the 750-square-foot solar-powered home was moved Saturday.

The award-winning home makes more energy than it uses, said James Rose, senior lecturer in UT’s College of Architecture and Design.

Moving the 80,000-pound house was a daylong project. The Children’s Museum is in a residential area in Oak Ridge, so the museum had to move trees, excavate a slope, and create a temporary road to get to the site.

Rose said the one-room home, which has mechanical and laundry areas, will be used at the Children’s Museum for outreach and to showcase the latest energy-efficient technologies.

“This is the perfect place for this building,” said Rose, the architect of record on the project and the leader of the student architecture studio that designed it. [Read more…]

UT solar house donated, moving Saturday to Children’s Museum

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ut-living-light-house

 

KNOXVILLE—The University of Tennessee in Knoxville is donating the Living Light House— its award-winning, solar-powered project—to the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge.

The Living Light House will move to its permanent home on Saturday, May 17. Starting at 7 a.m., the 750-square-foot, zero-energy structure, will be transported from the UT Gardens to the Oak Ridge museum at 461 W. Outer Drive. The move is expected to take several hours.

“The house has served as an ambassador for good design and energy efficiency,” said James Rose, UT architecture lecturer and lead faculty member of the Living Light project. “One of the most satisfying things about giving tours of the house is the response from children. Young people are always fascinated by the house and leave it excited about the future. I cannot think of a better place for the Living Light house to carry on this mission than at the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge.”

The Living Light House, which was built through the efforts of more than 200 UT students, was an entry to the 2011 U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon in Washington, D.C. It has traveled nearly 6,000 miles, been toured by more than 50,000 visitors, and was on exhibit at the 2012 Smithsonian Folklife Festival. [Read more…]

‘Why Art’ exhibit opens Friday at Children’s Museum

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Oil Pastel

Jihye Jung is the young artist who created this oil pastel painting of a dragon. (Submitted image)

The Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge will host the opening of the exhibit “Why Art?” from 6-7 p.m. Friday, May 9, showcasing children’s art and highlighting the benefits of art education in a child’s academic life.

Children who are students of private art teacher Anjela McEahern will exhibit drawings and paintings in various media, including graphite pencil, colored pencil, pastel, watercolor and acrylic paint. Her 23 students, who attend preschool through eighth grade, will each have a work of art in the exhibit in Imagination Gallery at the museum at 461 W. Outer Drive.

The exhibit will also include a mural created by Phil Yeh, an artist representing Cartoonists Across America and the World, during the 2010 Street Painting Festival sponsored by the local Oak Ridge Rotary Clubs. Yeh and Leona Kitchings, who contributed to the mural, sketched Oak Ridge landmarks, and many local artists painted the landmarks.

Entertaining with a violin performance will be Michael Lin, a Farragut Middle School student and first violin in the Youth Chamber Orchestra in the Knoxville Symphony Youth Orchestra Association. [Read more…]

United Way raises $1.17 million, about 90 percent of ‘bold’ goal

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Greta Ownby and Edwena Crowe

UWAC Board President, Greta Ownby, left, announces Edwena Crowe, right, as Volunteer of the Year. (Submitted photos)

The campaign was complicated by the partial government shutdown in October, but the United Way of Anderson County raised close to $1.2 million this year, or about 90 percent of its goal.

The results were announced at an annual meeting and campaign announcement at the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge on Thursday.

The campaign goal, which was described as “bold,” had been $1.3 million. The total amount raised was $1,172,742. The United Way said this will allow for stable funding for its agency programs.

“Unfortunately, we will not be able to increase funding to our community partners,” UWAC Executive Director Rick Morrow said. “Last year’s total resulted in a reduction of $200,000 to the funding pool, and this year’s total will only allow for continued funding at that level.” [Read more…]

United Way of Anderson County’s annual meeting on Thursday

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United Way of Anderson County Meeting Invite

Reservations due Monday

The United Way of Anderson County will have its annual meeting on Thursday morning at the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge.

Reservations are due Monday, April 14.

A light breakfast will be available at the annual meeting, which is scheduled from 7:30-8:30 a.m. Thursday.

“The community is invited to attend the annual meeting and campaign announcement,” a press release said. “It is a time for UWAC to share with donors the lasting change their contributions make in Anderson County and an opportunity to thank and recognize the volunteers that lead the effort. [Read more…]

Children’s Museum hosts Young Child Celebration on April 11

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Backwoods Rambling Puppets

Wood and Strings Theatre will bring the rich folklore and toe-tapping tunes of the Appalachian Mountains to life with a puppet performance of “Backwoods Ramblin’” on Friday, April 11, for the Celebration of the Young Child at the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge.

The celebration, from 9 a.m.-1 p.m., will be a tribute to Selma Shapiro, who led the museum for 32 years before her retirement at age 80 in 2004. She expanded the museum from a group of small exhibits established by Girl Scouts into a nationally recognized regional center of learning and play, and continued to volunteer at the museum until her death in 2011.

Wood and Strings Theatre’s marionettes play fiddles, smoke corn cob pipes, dance jigs, and sing mountain tunes as they take the audience to the front porch of storyteller Grandpa Will’s cabin. He spins tall tales based on “Jack Tales,” authentic Appalachian folk tales compiled by Richard Chase. Grandpa Will’s family, friends, and hound dog all join in the lively entertainment. [Read more…]

Music, dance, food, crafts at Children’s Museum International Fest on Saturday

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Children's Museum International Festival 2013

International tastes, sounds and sights will fill the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge during the International Festival from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 15.

The family-friendly event features musical and dance entertainment on stage throughout the day. Participants will dine on international cuisine, children will make international crafts to take home, and all will visit booths displaying crafts and traditions from world cultures. Food will be served from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. at the museum, which is at 461 West Outer Drive in Oak Ridge.

Picti, a duo performing Celtic rock, will be featured performers at the International Festival. Other performers will include the klezmer band Dor L’ Dor; Good Thymes Ceilidh Scottish Fiddle Band; Chinese folk musicians Song Yu; Carib Sounds; South American musicians Cantemos; Andrew Payzant on Scottish bagpipe; and Hmong folk music and dance. Appalachian music—including David Neidig and Tom Smith, Early Bird Special, Knoxville Area Dulcimer Club, and Allen McBride on hammer dulcimer—will be in the Appalachia Heritage exhibit area of the museum, along with crafts exhibitors. [Read more…]

Children’s Museum Hosts International Fest Feb. 15

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Childrens Museum International Festival

Dancers at the 2013 International Festival at the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge. (Submitted photo)

Picti, a duo performing Celtic rock, will be featured performers at the International Festival on Saturday, Feb. 15, at the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge. The duo will have the audience on their feet as they entertain with bagpipes, bouzouki, whistles and drums, drawing on tribal elements from Celtic traditions.

Festival goers will experience entertainment, crafts, and cuisines from cultures around the world at the family friendly event, with musical and dance entertainment on stage throughout the day. Participants will dine on international cuisine, children will make international crafts to take home, and all will visit booths displaying crafts and traditions from world cultures.

The International Festival will be from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Feb. 15 at the Children’s Museum, 461 West Outer Dr., Oak Ridge. Food will be available from 11 a.m.-2 p.m.

Returning this year will be the Kids Fest from 8-10 a.m., featuring international crafts, tasting food from other cultures, and dancing. The Kids Fest is for children in second through seventh grades, the cost is $15 per person, and pre-registration is required. Accompanying adults are admitted with regular International Festival admission. [Read more…]

AMSE’s operating contract with for-profit could be replaced by nonprofit

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American Museum of Science and Energy

The American Museum of Science and Energy on South Tulane Avenue in Oak Ridge is pictured above.

The contract with the for-profit company that runs the American Museum of Science and Energy will change from quarterly to monthly starting Jan. 1, and a museum expert could be hired on an interim basis to assess the museum, its place in the community, and a logical new operating structure.

The museum is now funded by the U.S. Department of Energy at a cost of about $1.5 to $1.6 million per year, said David Keim, communications director at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Revenues from the gift shop, admissions, and programs add up to about $300,000 per year.

But officials have long said that the department should not be operating the museum.

“It’s always been a government-funded operation,” Keim said. But, “DOE is not in the museum business.”

In June, a group of museum directors brought to Oak Ridge from around the country recommended that the museum be run by a community-based nonprofit organization—not DOE and not a for-profit company, Keim said. [Read more…]

Children’s Museum Gala celebrates 1970s

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Jack Funari and John Brown

Jack Funari, also known as “Saxophone Jack,” and John Brown will perform at the Children’s Museum 40th Birthday Gala on Friday, Dec. 6. (Submitted photo)

The Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge will celebrate its origins in the 1970s when guests gather for the 40th Birthday Gala at the museum on Friday, Dec. 6. The theme will be “Rocketing through the 70s!” in honor of the March 11, 1973, birth of the museum and the Rocket Room play area that delights children of all ages.

Guests will hop aboard the “Soul Train,” with the museum decked out as Knoxville’s Southern Terminal, as they enjoy the folk, rock, and pop culture of the 1970s.

Saxophone Jack and Friends will entertain guests with the music from the 1970s, and guests are invited to dress as their favorite characters of that era. Jack Furnari, also known as Saxophone Jack, has been in the Knoxville and East Tennessee music scene for more than 30 years. [Read more…]

Children’s Museum reopens Waterworks Exhibit

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TVA Group Exhibit Display

Tennessee Valley Authority staff members, who designed graphics showing TVA’s role on the Tennessee River and displaying river safety information, join TVA board member Neil McBride, center, and others who helped renovate the exhibit. Laura Smith, with TVA, holds the plaque thanking TVA for its many contributions to the exhibit. (Submitted photos)

Children are once again splashing water as they send wooden tugboats down river in the TVA Waterworks Exhibit at the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge. The exhibit recently reopened with some new additions that highlight learning through play.

In addition to operating small locks and dams in a flume donated by the Tennessee Valley Authority, children now may climb aboard a child-sized tugboat for an imaginary trip down the Tennessee River. After boarding, children may walk around the deck before entering the pilot house and crews’ quarters of the red, white, and blue tugboat, a small-scale replica of Ingram Marine Group’s working tugboats. [Read more…]

Children’s Museum hosts chili cook-off

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ES&H at Children's Museum Chili Cook-off

Bill Garibay, president and chief executive officer of ES&H, joins staff members in preparing chili for the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge Chili Cook-off. With him, from left, are Erik Cueto, Bryan Byler, Dave O’Toole, Lynne Musick, and Jim Everett. (Submitted photo)

Chili teams are invited to cook a pot of their best chili, and the public is welcome to sample it, when the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge hosts its first annual Choo Choo Chili Cook-off on Sunday, Oct. 20.

As chili contestants vie for ribbons, the public may sample chili and enjoy hot dogs, cornbread and beverages that will be available during the cook-off, which will take place from 3-6 p.m. For children, pumpkin decorating and scarecrow activities will add to the fun afternoon. Admission for the cook-off and museum is $5.

Chili chefs may enter in one of five categories: vegetarian, meat, spicy, white and surprise ingredient. They will prepare chili off site and bring at least one gallon of chili in a crock pot for the event. Contestants must use non-processed ingredients, except for items such as tomatoes, Worcestershire sauce, and Tabasco sauce. Contestants are asked to provide a team name and decorate a table. Fee for contestants is $25 per team. More than 20 teams are expected at the cook-off. [Read more…]